Polish museum wages battle for wartime letters -- Travel

Within minutes of seeing the delicate letters and postcards held at the German auction house, museum curator Joanna Lang began frantically sending text messages to her bosses in Poland.

[Roger Siuda]

After all that the Swedes have stolen from Poland, have they no shame, to bid for theses letters.
Sweden should return what they have taken, not take more.

[Tom]

It's also a disgrace that these letters are in the hands of a German and the collector is trying to profit from them.

[Carol Celinska Dove]

What a fantastic story that puts a smile in my heart.

Thank you for sharing,

Carol Celinska Dove

[Barb Wroblewski Wheeling]

Carol Celinska Dove wrote:

What a fantastic story that puts a smile in my heart.
Thank you for sharing,
Carol Celinska Dove

It's a smile but a smile through tears. Remembering the thousands of Polish Scouts, children actually as young as 10 and 12 who perished, not only while delivering letters, but also while fighting with Molotov cocktails for the freedom of their City, their Country. May their heroism and the heroism of their country who fought the evil of Hitler's Germany on all fronts of Europe and Africa, finally receive the gratitude and respect they so richly deserve - they paid for it with their blood.

[Feda]

That was a very inspiring story. I am glad these letters ended up at home and in a place where more than just collectors can go appreciate them. The auctioneer, Ulrich Felzman, is a considerate man. Felzman is a German, just like the collector of the letters, Manfred Schultze. It goes to show that no one, even from the same country/background, are alike.

[Stan Korzeniewski]

Glad to see letters back in homeland.

[Tomek]

Graet news. And read The Zoo Keepers Wife.

[MK Starzynski]

Wonderful story, Tribune! Thanks for running it. And Ms. Wroblewski, well said. Anyone who has seen the short film at the tourist center in Warsaw's Old Town cannot help but be greatly moved by the city's history. The bravery exhibited by Warsaw's residents and really that of all Polish citizens is nothing short of extraordinary.

[pascalrose]

And so now there is justice. I am so glad to hear a great ending to this story.

[Tomek]

All's well that ends well. Great story. Bardzo dobrze.

[Maggie M]

Why did the author keep calling the Warsaw Uprising, the Warsaw Rising? Doesn't anybody know any history anymore?

[Jeannette]

The museum in Poland is called the Warsaw Rising Museum (www.1944.pl). I think the names are used interchangeably, although I always heard it called the Uprising.

Maybe it is to differentiate between the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising.

Wonderful article, very touching! I'm so pleased with the outcome.

[Nina]

Thank you so much for printing this story. It is very touching and wonderful that the letters have found their true home. I was in Warsaw and visited the incredible museum dedicated to the Warsaw Uprising of 1944. Anyone who visits Warsaw should visit it to learn about the valiant Poles who fought for their freedom without any help from us, their alllies, help that was promised when they began the insurrection. It's one of the great tragic stories of WWII that 250,000 Poles died in those 60+ days. I was wondering, though, why the letters were not bought by the German government or a German philanthropist and donated to the museum as a gesture of for all the Poles suffered at the hands of the Nazis.

[peter]

Nina wrote:

Thank you so much for printing this story. It is very touching and wonderful that the letters have found their true home. I was in Warsaw and visited the incredible museum dedicated to the Warsaw Uprising of 1944. Anyone who visits Warsaw should visit it to learn about the valiant Poles who fought for their freedom without any help from us, their alllies, help that was promised when they began the insurrection. It's one of the great tragic stories of WWII that 250,000 Poles died in those 60+ days. I was wondering, though, why the letters were not bought by the German government or a German philanthropist and donated to the museum as a gesture of for all the Poles suffered at the hands of the Nazis.

greed

[Goethicus]

peter wrote:

<quoted text>
greed

?? What's that supposed to mean? Or did you mean to categorize all Germans as the same, e.g. Co Niemiec, to pies??

[SilkyJohnson]

Goethicus wrote:

<quoted text>
?? What's that supposed to mean? Or did you mean to categorize all Germans as the same, e.g. Co Niemiec, to pies??

This is totally off topic...
but I was conducting some research on Slovic words
and the name "Niemiec" that the poles and other Slovic cultures call the germans supposedly means
something like
' the dumb ", or , "ones without lanuguage"
something along those lines
Does anyone know where this word originated from
?
or what the ture meaning is...?
This is funny to me

[Magda]

Goethicus wrote:

<quoted text>
?? What's that supposed to mean? Or did you mean to categorize all Germans as the same, e.g. Co Niemiec, to pies??

Entschuldigung,ich kann nicht verstehen,was das Problem ist.That would be an excellent idea,if the letters were donated to the museum.My great grandparents from my father side were both Niemcami,however they were not dumb dogs or Nazi.

[Goethicus]

SilkyJohnson wrote:

<quoted text>
This is totally off topic...
but I was conducting some research on Slovic words
and the name "Niemiec" that the poles and other Slovic cultures call the germans supposedly means
something like
' the dumb ", or , "ones without lanuguage"
something along those lines
Does anyone know where this word originated from
?
or what the ture meaning is...?
This is funny to me

I think it came about when the expanding Slavs met the expanding Germans, and well, since neither could understand each other, the Slavs quite naturally called their interlocutors 'the dumb ones': dumb as in the Middle English usage, meaning mute.

[Goethicus]

Magda wrote:

<quoted text>Entschuldigung,ich kann nicht verstehen,was das Problem ist.That would be an excellent idea,if the letters were donated to the museum.My great grandparents from my father side were both Niemcami,however they were not dumb dogs or Nazi.

The problem was that someone asked why no Germans had bought these letters and donated them to Poland, whereupon some idiot chimed in with the single word...'greed', thereby categorizing all Germans as greedy. Shame on that person.

[Goethicus]

And like Magda, I fail to see the humour in insulting other nationalities...but I will excuse it in SilkyJohnson if he finds 'Polak' jokes funny...